The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-04-15
sPoFFoRD,s KNOWLEDGE.
His Method Of Acquiring It-How to Read napid'

Il is commonly said that Mr.. Spoil
ford, the Librarian OF Congress, knows
something about the contents ofevory
volume in the library. This means
that he has slowed away in moder-
ate.sized head 100000 volumes OF
various sizes and bindings. A mem
Der OF Congress iacetiously said, 81
don't read books, l read Spoiford."
In that way, he added, he got the
whole library at one glance. A figure
OF speech, but not rs broad as it
sounds. II member or Senator
wants a quotation that cannot be
found in any OF the Familiar Quota
TONS" and is OF very obscure origin,
he goesto Mr.. Spoiford. II he wants
the best authority on any subject, or,
indeed, il ne wants to learn anything
that may be found in any OF those
thousands of volumes, he goes to the
same source. Members seldom think
OF looking ut the catalogues
Mr. Spoiiord is probably the most
rapid reader in this country. The
other day n Star reporter sought
some information ofhim. Simultane'
ously, within space OF five minutes,
he conversed with the reporter, "read"
through completely twelve-page
New York paper, dictated letter to
a stenographer, and gave directions
to two assistants. He commenced all
at the same time and finished them
together. A remark-a sentence die
tated aside-a direction-a sentence
dictated-a remark, and so on. ap.
parently without an effort, and all
the time his eyes were running over
the paper almost as fast as he could
turn from page to page.
THE reporter asked him afterwards
how he did it.
"Oh, it comes natural for me to
give my attention to two or three
things together that way. | do it by
sort OF intuition without thinking
OF it,"
"But how do you read so rapidly"
~ acquire the subject matter"
said Mr.. Spofford. 81 pick out tie
meat-the pith. Ipay no attention
to the verbiage. | scarcely see the
words, and never note the form OF
sentences. | have learned, by long
practice and having n natural tenden-
cy for it, to get the information with
out the rhetoric. In this way the
thought is got at glance. 1t is not
the words you want. When your
time is all too short for your work,
you can't afford to waste it on words.
In reading there is so much that is OF
no use to you-a worthless lot OF YER
biage. BY practice you can avoid all
this. Nearly all books or papers are
taken up mostly with rhetoric, and
have the fact and substance stored
away in very small space, if you
only know how to find it. | seldom
spend more than half an hour, and
never more than an hour and
half in the reading-or reconnois-
sance OF the largest volume. For in
stance, | take this" and he took a
volume from the shelf. mo" look
ing at the title, "this is hardly the
proper book to Illustrate it with.
This is Carlyle; he has to be read; ey-
cry word. Heis one OF the few authors
who cannot be read as | have de-
scribed. You must read every word,
and well it pays you for the time.
But it is only such II rugged and ex-
traordinary writer that it is neces-
sary to read that way. All those
thousands Of books, with smooth
easy running sentences, they are all
alike, and you don't want to waste
time on the language, you want so
seize on to the soul and devour it in
an instant. like this, now" and he
reached another book mot Carlyle)
and went down the pages one alter
another, rs mn eXnert accountant
would 90 down n column OF figures.
Nothing there | want, nor there, nor
there" Then occasionally strik-
ing something to the point and getting
the the thought in an instant. He
went over probably fifteen or twenty
pages in this way in length OF time
hardly worth reckoning, and without
even making break in the converse
ton.
"Many people" Mr.. Spoiford went
went on, "have the time wasting hab-
it of pronouncing every word in their
mind, and noticing every pause and
punctuation as they go along, as il
reading aloud. All these words and
sentences, with the capitalization and
punctuation-the commas, colons, Sc
mi-colons, the periods, and the para
graphs, are only the signs to be follow
ed, but not to berecorded in the mind,
The mind must take note OF the
thought only. Many readers, perhaps
most readers, chuck their heads up
NTH conmas and colons inetead of